In a recent post that touched on travel, I offered the opinion that the best food is found at gas stations. Perhaps. Still, this is hardly a unique perspective on curbside culinary attractions. It turns out that the Internet has quite a bit to say about “gas station food”. Since Curbside Classic is an Internet place where folks gather to talk about all things automotive, transport, and then some, it seems reasonable to see what you have to say on the subject of fueling your body at the same time you fuel your vehicle. I’ll get us started with a few of the greatest hits, but then leave it to readers in the comments to expand on the topic.
Innards
That’s perhaps an off-putting subheading to some readers, but WordPress insists that this article will have greater “readability” if I insert a descriptive/directional subheading and don’t tax typical attention spans with more than 300 consecutive words. Regularly breaking things up with some kind of heading is claimed to encourage people to keep reading; or at least to be lulled into the comforting belief that this article is shorter than it actually might be.
So “Innards” is what you get, since that’s what a shortly arriving paragraph will be about.
The lede photo is one of those things I quickly photographed using one of the cameras that has no GPS-locating function. As best as I can recall, it was taken somewhere near Huntsville, AL in 2017. I’d be interested in knowing – from someone in the area – if it’s still there or if the location has perhaps been converted into a more traditional convenience store/gas station. “Livers and Gizzards” looked to be very much a going concern in 2017. There’s clearly no national shortage of chicken innards or people who want to eat such things. To wit, I was recently offered a giant plate of fried gizzards as a gratis-appetizer at a restaurant in Houston, and saw many at tables near me scarfing them down. Therefore I can see no reason why “Livers & Gizzards” needs to have closed.
Inside, close to where you’d go in and ask for “the receipt on pump 4” the namesake delicacies were displayed in a case much like this. As we’ll see, this is the typical display for homemade gas station eats.
As a Curbside Connoisseur you probably know that.
Boudin
Legendary food-writer, journalist, etc. Calvin Trillin has a famous piece from 2002 that is a deep dive into one of Southern Louisiana’s many signature foods, boudin. You have to dig for the piece deep behind a paywall in the January 28, 2002 issue of the New Yorker, but it’s well worth the read. Trillin’s starting point is that boudin is a food that seldom ever makes it out of a gas station’s parking lot. That’s because most of it is consumed in the car/truck immediately after its purchase.
For those unfamiliar with Southern Louisiana or American gas station convenience stores in general, most people get their boudin from a place that looks like this. I suppose that it’s possible to get boudin in a regular grocery store, but much of it is homemade and is sold roadside close to the source. Or at least that’s how you get the good stuff.
The boudin itself looks like this, although boudin from any particular roadside vendor may look a bit different/unique. I like as much rice as possible inside mine. That’s in addition to whatever else is in there besides the rice. As is said about all types of sausage, you likely don’t really want to know what “whatever else” is.
Prior to sale, most boudin winds up being wrapped in aluminum foil (the covering of choice for gas station cuisine). A number of years ago when I was last driving through Cajun country rather off of I-10, it was often sold out of foam coolers on the front porch of the gas station building.
Pepperoni Rolls
Perhaps more so than boudin (which is largely a Gulf Coast delicacy), the pepperoni roll crops up in a number of regions as the go-to gas station food. West Virginia seems to have flooded the zone on the Internet with claims that the pepperoni roll was “invented” in West Virginia and therefore is the state food. I personally find those claims a bit weak as I have definitely encountered these things in Michigan and Ohio where I was also told by local boosters that the item was invented there and was the state food.
West Virginians have thoroughly commercialized the pepperoni roll and there are a number of bakeries that specialize in making them specifically for sale in gas stations/convenience stores. Nevertheless, I am sure that there are still plenty of locally-produced pepperoni rolls that wind up wrapped in aluminum foil and held in one of those display cases heated with a light bulb.
Food Displayed Under Light Bulbs
I struggled to find a good photo of this online, and sadly don’t have one of my own, but a signature delight while driving on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico (and to a lesser extent, other Caribbean islands) is eating a lunch composed of the incredible range of fried foods typically displayed in some sort of display case heated with light bulbs. These pictured examples are all a little bit less rustic than I’m used to, but I’m sure the food is just as good. Likewise, these photos are from dedicated food stands (heated with actual heat lamps); but you can find similar foods at gas stations and sometimes just tents with a table and chair along the side of the road or in parking lots.
Mofongo isn’t exactly fried (although it contains fried things – see chicharrones below), but I so love it that I simply have to include this photo. This I believe is actually a Santurce food stand. Santurce being the area that you fly over as you depart San Juan’s Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport and wonder what you might have missed seeing in the city. You probably missed this. Now you have to go back.
So not only is the best food sold at gas stations, but it’s also displayed under light bulbs.
Boiled Peanuts
Boiled peanuts in their shells is a gas station food that exists primarily in the South, but I’ve seen them rarely elsewhere, sometimes in the Midwest. The classic presentation is a crock pot with a ladle and a hand-written sign. The peanuts are submerged in a hot murky stock/brine. I’ve not tried these, mostly because they seem a bit messy to eat in the car. Your experience?
Stuckey’s
Less messy than boiled peanuts would be actually shelled and roasted nuts. Pecans – whether you pronounce the word as something used as a necessity on a long road trip where dad refuses to stop for bio breaks (yes kids…life used to be tough) or as something that rhymes with the last name of the actor who played Sonny in the Godfather movies – have long figured as roadside attractions.
This has been going on at gas stations in the pecan-growing regions for quite some time.
The regionally common practice of selling pecans to roadside travelers at gas stations ultimately gave rise in a big way to Stuckey’s. Stuckey’s deserves its own article here on CC given the place that these Pecan Shoppes (you need the terminal “e”) assumed in mid-century American roadside history. As a kid in the 1960s on road trips, the billboards every 10 miles or so resulted in my always pressuring my parents to stop for gas at Stuckey’s.
My parents generally ignored my pleas as they were forewarned from the “Pecans – Candies – Gifts” advertised on every Stuckey’s sign, what this place was really about. In turn, they seriously wanted to avoid entering an establishment that featured a multitude of candies and/or gifts as those things were roughly equivalent to two of the seven heads of the beast in their – or at least my Mom’s – worldview. That just left pecans, which apparently they could take or leave. Generally, they left them.
I guess we just weren’t a nut-eating family.
Stuckey’s, by the way, is attempting a comeback after nearly vanishing by the early years of the 21st century. It has “pivoted from being a roadside attraction to a consumer packaged good“. Well, good luck with that.
Fried Fish
Throughout the Mississippi Delta it’s common to find fried fish held under light bulbs or on steam tables in gas stations and convenience stores. On one trip to the Delta, I encountered signs for fried “pangasius“, which I later learned is the name for several species of fish that are similar to catfish.
As in most parts of the world, the true value of a thing is established by whether or not you can eat it. Apparently pangasius is good eating. And if it’s good local eating, it’s going to be available at a gas station.
I should note as a matter of full disclosure that there is debate as to whether pangasius in fact is good eating. There are sites on the Internet that claim that it’s full of toxins, a claim which does have a ring of truth given the local habit of farming pangasius (and catfish) in converted former cotton fields. One site I found recommends eating nuts instead of pangasius. This, on the other hand, may simply be yet another example of inter-gas-station-food-rivalry promoted by the pecan industrial complex.
Cracklins
Yup. Pork rinds. Where you find pigs, and barbecue (i.e., the South), you’re going to find “cracklins”. I mean, why go to all the trouble to make a football when you can just fry the stuff up and eat it? I grew up with these things, fed to me by the same people who felt that eating “candy” was a moral failure and a sure harbinger of Armageddon (see “Stuckey’s”, above). Go figure.
Sure, you can find pork rinds produced by FritoLay in grocery stores in Massachusetts (I have no idea who buys them); but why would you eat something mass-produced like that when you could get a baggie full of the greasy homemade version in gas stations throughout the Barbecue Belt?
Don’t even get me started on chicharrones, available roadside in the Southwest, Latin America, and other places where delicious food is sold.
There’s a whole website mostly dedicated to discussing the difference between pork rinds and chicharrones.
Kolaches/Klobasnek
Finally, in the vein of roadside foods that are contested in terms of what they are and where people confuse one type of the food with another, we have kolaches. Kolaches are very popular throughout modern Texas, but are also in fact frequently klobasneks mistakenly advertised as kolaches.
These Czech/Slovak pastries are considered quintessential road foods in a broad swath of Texas, although it seems that often the fruit-filled sweet versions (kolaches) and the savory meat-filled versions (klobasneks) are all sold as “kolaches” throughout the state. While I’ve not been there, the town of West, TX apparently tries to keep the distinction straight via sales from the famous Slovacek’s and its cross-highway rival, the Czech Stop.
I have found that Texans are pretty serious about making distinctions between places and things. An animated map helps to keep things straight.
This, by the way, was filmed in Black’s BBQ in Lockhart, TX. I’ve been there numerous times. Highly recommended.
At any rate, in West, TX, both famous kolache bakeries sell gas along with the pastries. Exxon for Slovacek’s and Shell for the Czech Stop.
You can catch a glimpse of the pumps in this otherwise pastry-filled video that schools you on the difference between kolaches and their kloabasnek impostors.
What Else?
Now it’s your turn. It goes without saying that some critical gas station foods have simply been ignored here, so you need to fill in the blanks. I purposefully left out barbecue as in some ways its national footprint makes it the low-hanging-fruit of U.S. road foods. Plus, everyone has something to say about barbecue. We can all benefit from learning about good local barbecue that is accessible at curbside, so let’s hear it.
Or maybe there’s something more exotic out there. Like whatever was promised by this venue I passed in Maine a while back.
One can only imagine.
The culinary arts are near the top of my interests and hobbies outside of the automotive world, so this was a fun read for me. Growing up in Minnesota, I don’t ever recall roadside / gas station foods as a thing, but definitely recall some of these items from childhood road trips. As for Boudin… I have a good friend, Natchitoches Louisiana born and raised and self-proclaimed as “from the swamp”. He does not touch Boudin.
Your friend comes from one of the specific towns in Louisiana where I recall finding boudin in those gas station-based foam coolers. If a real local doesn’t eat it, that may be a fact worth considering.
About thirty years ago, I went on a poorly executed road trip with a college buddy. I don’t recall exactly how we ended up needing gas and drinks between Charlottesville and Richmond, but we had to leave the interstate by a few miles to find it in the days before smart phones. We wound up at a place in a remote rural area that nonetheless had a full parking lot. Inside, we discovered that everyone was standing in line for the next batch of chitlins, which were served battered and fried. Twenty-year-old me did not partake, much to my discredit.
I recall encountering roadside chitlins (aka chitterlings) from my youth in North Carolina. Often, they were sold only on certain days of the week and given both the difficulty of preparing them, and frankly the odor, it was preferable to leave the cooking to someone else. And then “someone else” would sell them from the gas station, roadside stand, or maybe restaurant for takeout.
I was introduced to these as a child by my dad. It turns out that chitlins are one of the places where rural African American and rural Chinese (or more broadly pan-asian) cuisine cross. Different preparation (in some cases), but same innards.
Now that you mention it, the smell may have played a role in my decision not to take advantage of the opportunity to try something new. I’m not certain though, as I think the stewing process when they stink may have been over by the time I got there. It’s been a long time.
I had never eaten chitlins until I was in my late 20s, and living in North Carolina. By then they’d become hard to find. I knew several people who’d grown up eating chitlins, and they usually said something like “I only eat chitlins that come from my grandma’s kitchen.”
Since I didn’t have that option, I had to search them down at some sort of food service place. Finally, I found a diner in Durham that had chitlins – all you can eat, no less! I can’t say they were my favorite food ever, but I went back a few more times, since I had some friends who wanted to try them too. Unfortunately, that diner is no longer around. I’m glad I tried chitlins when I had the chance.
I too had parents that would never dream of stopping at Stuckeys. But
I’ve been eating chicken gizzards since I was about 4 years old. Love em. Plus as I entered adulthood I learned that they can be a very effective, economical catfish bait on a trot line. I boil em up with beef bouillon and spices. And if I get hungry while fishing I can always take a few for myself.
Chalk up another reason for using gizzards over night crawlers as bait.
Jeff – good topic; I’m anticipating lots more foods and tips below.
My experience is not eating gas station food but rather stopping at roadside stands to buy local food and take it away. Areas I know where there is good stuff:
southern Arizona’s Green Valley area – pecans
New Mexico – roadside barrel roasted chiles
southern Wisconsin – roadside farm stands – big variety but the fresh sweet corn is the treasure to buy to take home.
Loved this so much. It has me thinking of taking a road trip. Stuckey’s used to be a borderline obsession of mine. We had them in Michigan for years until they all disappeared. When my family of origin moved to Florida in the early ’90s, on that drive down and much to my dad’s chagrin, I asked that we stop at Stuckey’s to refuel.
As for the rest of these foods, I feel like I’m adventurous enough to try many of them, though I’d be more likely to do so as a co-participant rather than just rolling up and being like, “Mmmmm! I’ll have two of those!”
Great feature as usual, Jeff. And I had to deliberately not type that it was “food for thought”.
I would also say that Stuckey’s was a borderline obsession with me on long family car trips in the 1960s and 1970s. That obsession was of course only exacerbated by my parents’ refusal to stop there.
The obsession continues, and when I saw one some years ago somewhere out west, I insisted on stopping (easy since I was FINALLY the driver) and of course needed to purchase a Pecan Log Roll. Nevertheless, channeling the voice of my parents living in my head, I couldn’t actually eat the thing.
So now it lives on my bookshelf. The package has an expiration date of “Nov 15 2017” stamped on it, but I’m rather sure it will last well into the next century.
OK, back to the shelf with that…
That’s *awesome*. Pecan log roll as science project! No, seriously, savimg it is something I also might have done. I only recently threw out a Stuckey’s cup I had saved that cracked only recently.
Stuckey”s appears to have made something of a comeback, co-branding with certain gas stations, IIRC. They also have an online presence. I bought a T-shirt years ago.
What a mouth-watering CC post!
First – the Alabama Livers & Gizzards place. Sadly, it appears that it’s been torn down. I was able to track down its location to the western side of Huntsville, and it appears that the building was demolished shortly after you took this picture. From the old imagery, it’s unclear whether the business itself was open after 2015 or so. Anyway, it’s now an empty field. A 2015 StreetView image capture is below, and the link is here:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/z1R2L6JZzpuc77hN6
Fried gizzards are one of my favorite foods. (Mom used to bake gizzards when I was growing up, but I never had the fried variety until I was an adult, and like most things, the fried stuff is better.) Whenever we visit my in-laws, we stop at the local supermarket, which has a Chester’s Fried Chicken counter, and I’ll get 2 lbs. of the stuff. It’s great road food as well – organ meat is very filling, as well as tasty. Though admittedly, I’ve never warmed up to liver.
I’ve never heard of boudin, but it sounds great. I’ve only been to Louisiana once – to Alexandria, which is probably too far north for boudin. I’ll remember this for whenever I’m down that way again.
When we’re travelling, my wife has a great eye for good roadside places to eat. Her main criteria are the vehicles in the parking lot. Lots of older (but not run-down) pickups signifies a good place to eat. It’s a version of how I used to select street vendors when I worked in Philadelphia – if I saw construction workers lined up at a particular vendor, I’d know he had good food at a good value.
Oh, and my kids love pork rinds as road trip food. We’ll often load up on them when we have a chance.
Thanks for this article – But now I’ll be hungry for the rest of the morning.
Ah, of course! It’s right near Yellowhammer Brewing’s taproom. Now I remember.
Huntsville has such a terrific craft brewing scene. It literally is due to the preponderance of rocket scientists (and related high-nerd fields…which is make no mistake about it a very positive thing in my book!) in the area. Anyway, I now recall finding Livers and Gizzards after an afternoon at Yellowhammer.
Glad it rings a bell now. I bet that place was great in its day!
This article reminds me of something a Cajun great uncle once told me: “We Cajuns will eat anything that don’t eat us first.” It was probably his way of saying “We eat what we can catch and season it so it is palatable.”
I don’t usually eat ‘”site-prepared” food from convenience stores. One exception is from the H.E.B. convenience store located in the corner of the parking lot of the HUGE main H.E.B. grocery store near my house in San Antonio. It has a breakfast taco “assembly line” where on any given Saturday morning people are lined up ordering a couple or dozens of breakfast tacos.
You can get them with eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, barbacoa, brisket, and of course cheese in any combination. It’s a great way to start a weekend of fishing, hunting, boating, or whatever. You can put some fuel in your own tank while topping up the boat and pickup.
Truck driver here, very familiar with gas station kai, its one of the few places where you can park something 20metres long, but there are usually better options nearby.
The only organ food i like is properly prepared -and that is key- chicken liver. Can’t stand beef liver. And I don’t see how anybody can eat cow tongue. Do you know where that tongue has been?? 🙂
Having lived all my life in California, and primarily traveling in the West, most of these foods are familiar to me only from having heard of them, but never eating them. And since we’ve had our camper van I find myself spending money only on gas at gas stations. Food comes from home, with grocery store stops on longer trips. Note: Grocery Outlet is a great place for road trip resupply. Also Trader Joe’s if you can find one.
I haven’t seen much in the way of regional specialties at gas stations here. Most food seems generic and prepackaged. About three years ago I was driving home from Idaho and got caught in a Spring snowstorm in central Nevada, as the sun was setting. I found a charming and inexpensive motel in the semi-ghost town of Austin but only one restaurant appeared to be open. As I approached the entrance I noted that in my town the building would probably have been red tagged, and I wondered if it had any recent health inspection. But my concerns were put to rest when I saw the hand scrawled sign on the door. I won’t quote it, but it was explicit that the socio-political beliefs of the management would result in me being thrown out.
So I went to the gas station. It was spotlessly clean, the couple running it were very friendly, and the (pre-packaged but very fresh) sandwich I got there was quite good. By the way, I think neither the gas station staff nor the motel owner would have been welcome at the restaurant. I came back for breakfast and a fill up in the morning.
It definitely sounds like you made the correct choice.
This reminds me of a project I had in northern North Dakota (near Peace Garden if one knows where that is). Arriving in the middle of the night, in the middle of the winter, the only food available was at the gas station. And that was because the recommended place to eat – which was the local bowling alley – was closed at that hour.
Roadside rather than gas station food but bear with me… 20 or so years ago I cycled from Luang Prabang to Vientiane in Laos. Since the roads followed the course of the Mekong River I assumed it would be downhill all the way. I had tagged along with friends so hadn’t really done my due diligence (no Google maps in those days) and the first day was something like 1800m ascent over 20km. So much for cycling downhill all the way. Anyway as I pedalled at walking pace round one corner there was an enticing set of food stalls by the cliff edge, one with meat on skewers. Salivating at the prospect of barbecued chicken on closer inspection it was chargrilled rat. I sped on (at walking pace).
Excellent. I’ve not been to Southeast Asia, but I have a friend who has traveled there extensively and he has presented me with tales of foods that I probably would not eat…along the lines of what you discovered on your bike trip. Which is why that last picture in the article (which I guarantee that I took in Maine) presented such a mysterious choice.
On the other hand, burgoo (something I came to appreciate while living in Kentucky) was always rumored to have squirrel in it. And that tasted just fine.
https://app.ckbk.com/recipe/lowc37252c08s001r009/squirrel-burgoo
And for those inclined to judge about people eating squirrel…I’ll note that my 1967 edition of the Joy of Cooking has a whole section about how to prepare squirrel. That section has been dropped from more recent editions.
Years ago on a work-related trip to China I participated in an evening dinner cruise on the Jialing River outside of Chongqing. The very helpful members of the British Council I was traveling with recommended that I avoid anything on the buffet with a red sauce if I objected to eating dog. Fortunately there were plenty of other delicious vegetable and seafood dishes to choose from…
My Dad grew up during the Depression in the rural Midwest. He was a good shot and the family ate many a fried squirrel. I guess it’s a matter of time, place, perspective…
Never tried any of the foods listed above but driving in the Bayou country of South Louisiana we loved the drive-thru Daiquiri stands (seriously!), often found in old gas stations, and evidently there because of all of the cane sugar grown in the area. I love me my Daiquiris but driving a rental car I was a bit hesitant to try them out though.
The idea of drive-thru liquor stores (or arguably even worse daiquiri stands) has always made my brain hurt. And yet, last fall when I was in Houston I noticed that there are quite a few such places. Must be another Gulf Coast thing.
The boudin made my arteries seize up. As to why I am not tbm3fan is unknown to me since it has been my name across numerous web sites for the last 25 years. That way people know who it is versus the generic Michael which is very generic. Besides only my father, mother, and wife call me Michael and two have passed away.
Your personal subscriber profile has a choice of what you want “displayed publicly”. That’s currently set at “Michael”. I assume you changed that? I sure didn’t. You can go in and change it to whatever you like.
You are right the display name changed and I am pretty sure I know how. There has been a glitch acquired by my computer where the browsers no longer work like they should. Won’t get into it but lots of strange happenings. Apparently one is that I am unable to change my display publicly name. Given only the choice of my first, last, or both while tbm3fan is not in the drop down list and I can’t type it in.
I found it strange that your display name had changed to Michael. I’ll check if I can edit that back to tbm3fan if that’s your wish.
I’ve just done that.
Thank you and I found another log in had a number added to the username which prevented logging into a necessary site. So obvious and yet apparently not so obvious as I was staring at the self loading username, thinking it is right, meanwhile there is the number right in the middle.
Here in Maryland we have two convenience store chains that have basically put 7-Eleven out of business here locally… or at least reduced them to also-ran status.
The first is Royal Farms which claims to have “World Famous Fried Chicken”. Don’t get me wrong here as it is very good, and would even give the Colonel a run for his money. But “World Famous” as they claim? I doubt it. If I’m not mistaken, ROFO (as it’s known here, which also makes no sense) is a REGIONAL thing, limited to PA, MD, VA, DE, and possibly NJ. But they are proud of their chicken, as it is hawked by the greatest field goal kicker of all time (as well as accomplished opera singer), the “World Famous” Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens.
The second is Wawa, a regional convenience store headquartered in Pennsylvania. They’re famous for their breakfast sandwiches with the purposefully misspelled name “Sizzli”. These breakfast sandwiches are very good (most of the time) and come in many varieties, and if you want a custom one and don’t mind waiting for it, they’ll make it up for you. They are also known for their hoagies, and every summer they have “Hoagiefest” wherein they discount their sandwiches (for a limited time, of course).
Both offer fuel at normally reasonable prices, and have many gas pumps, usually 16, but sometimes as many as 20 or 24. Of course this pales in comparison to some place in Texas the size of a small regional airport called Buc-ee’s. The one I went to down there had 89 pumps!!!
Oh, and for us, Stuckey’s is a place you get gardening supplies, farm equipment, horse feed, and rocks and such. Pecans? Really?!?!? I have to buy mine at Nuts.com. 😉
Funny that you mention Wawa as a colleague was just mentioning to me that it’s a gas station that seems to double as a restaurant…and this causes controversy and/or confusion by people who either face their favorite restaurant being called a “gas station” or being surprised when locals direct them to go eat at a gas station).
Which I guess is no big deal for a business that started out as an iron foundry that became a dairy that became a gas station grocery store restaurant.
I think Wawa may need its own article as well.
I had boiled peanuts for the first time about 20 years ago and have liked them ever since, though I eat them only every now and then due to my desire to keep my sodium intake low(er).
For sure not ideal eating in a vehicle, especially of one is as fastidious about the interior cleanliness as I am. That all said, you’ll need to have a place to put the soggy fibery shells, a lot of paper towels, or better yet a wash cloth handy as your fingers will be constantly wet. There’s just something addictive about peanuts being soft and salty that makes it almost impossible to stop eating. ( just a few more….really…these last half-dozen…really ). So good and so small, and so labor intensive due to the shelling. Imagine all-you-can-eat shrimp at 1/10 scale.
Pork rinds. Almost good and crunchy at first bite, horrible unpleasant fatty aftertaste follows quickly though. Not for me.
Thank you Tcx. You’ve confirmed my suspicions about boiled peanuts. I think the only thing preventing me from trying them as yet was not having the proper rental car and a lack of wet paper towels. Both challenges are easy to solve.
Another ubiquitous roadside delight in TX is “breakfast tacos” or just plain “tacos” (always of the “soft” tortilla variety). Tons of gas stations have them and they’re almost always really, really good. It’s a competitive thing here so they’re not – usually – going to be anything but tasty.
I love that you followed WordPress’s advice! So far, I’ve refused because I don’t like being told what to do, even if those doing the telling are not sentient (yet?).
Mrs. Aaron65 has a deep loathing for gas station food of any sort; she calls it “roller food.” She’s a country girl and grew up with dinners that often met their end at the business end of a rifle, but for some reason the gas station entree is over the line. That’s generally OK with me; I’m not an adventurous eater, although some of these entrees might be worth a try. 🙂
Well then, the following link is for Mrs. Aaron65 🙂
https://resources.sun-associates.com/images/IMG_2940.mov
I had wanted to include that in the article somehow, but didn’t want the hassle of setting up a specific Youtube channel for it (as the code here seems to only understand Youtube as a source of embedded videos?).
But there you go…Roller Food. Complete with robotic voices in the background announcing that the “showers are ready” for specific drivers. Those roller bites have always troubled me, so eventually I did need to capture them on video.
She will be disgusted by that. I can’t wait to show her. 🙂
In the desert Southwest of Arizona and New Mexico, virtually every gas station offers “Indian Fry Bread” or “Indian Tacos”. Or sometimes they’re called “Navajo”. Always made fresh to order by a handful of Native Americans in the parking lot. The bread itself is fried wheat dough (think of a savory variant of the famous fair food “Elephant Ears”) and if it has any of several various fillings and folded in half, it becomes a taco.
That’s a good one! I’ve been a few places in the Southwest where frybread was available roadside, but I’ve not tried it. It sounds great.
It sounds similar to what is sold from food trucks and roadside tents in parts of the Caribbean…”Roti”. The bread part is similar to the Indian flat bread, but it’s always sold with a filling so that the whole thing becomes sort of like a burrito.
Arrrgh…I could go for a stew goat or stew chicken roti right about now!
Great article!
As mentioned above in a comment there isn’t much in the way of regional specialties at gas stations in California, but there are the ubiquitous Taco Trucks, sometimes parked off to the side at gas stations and offering an array of Southwestern (and Central American, often) flavor. Along Interstate 5 in the various “gas station communities” there are also a couple of Indian restaurants, though that’s not really “roadside food” exactly.
When I saw the title of this article I thought there was going to be a survey or perhaps taste comparison of “roller hot dogs”, “roller chicken nuggets”, Slim Jims, microwaveable breakfast sandwhiches, prepackaged beef jerky, and my personal favorite if on a long road trip and really hungry, those packages with the side-by-side cheese-log and jerky-sausage. Not that I’m proud of having resorted to that, but I have at times.
Thank you JM!
re. Roller Foods, see the link in my reply to Aaron65’s comment above. I find the roller food machine to be equal parts fascinating and disturbing.
I think I may have succumbed to the cheese log/jerky thing a few times. It reminds me of one of my favorite snacks as a kid…those little plastic containers of crackers (4) along side of a tiny tub of rubbery orange cheeze spread. And my favorite part of that, the tiny wooden spreader. Then as now, I give bonus points to any food that comes with its own tools.
My mom let me eat those as they were somehow deemed healthy….kind of like pork rinds were given a pass on healthiness.
Yum, boiled peanuts and boudin! I’m from Louisiana also but not living there now. Love all that Cajun cooking.
We in Indiana don’t do so much exotic food, as we do staples like pizza and polish sausage sandwiches. I will confess to a fondness for the occasional gas station corn dog, though.
Oh boy, but do I remember Stuckeys! We stopped there quite often in the 70’s. I loved their chili dogs, which we ate standing up around those tall tables. Every once in awhile my mother would pop for the famous “pecan log roll”.
There’s certainly a lot of Stuckey’s love here, so there will be a Stuckey’s story coming I’m sure.
I don’t go into enough detail in the article, but there are actually still several of the original Stuckey’s stores in operation…by the original company. That company is now headed by the grand daughter of the company’s founder (from the 1930s). She sounds like quite the executive, having spent most of her career as a lawyer, state (GA) legislator, and environmentalist…and who has essentially taken her family’s business back from a succession of corporate owners. She plans on bringing in back to its former glory (with appropriate 21st century improvements). It’s quite the story.
Oh, and btw, I heard an interview from her that explained your standing up around those tall tables. Her grandfather felt that if he had let you sit down, your chances of wandering around the store finding candy would be diminished. So, no sitting in a Stuckey’s!
Dear Jeff, Fabulous article, lots of good laughs and good information. Gizzards were a treat when I was a child. Mom prepared them separately, baked, for us. They are healthy food, which was sorely needed in The Bronx. As for chitterlings, in The Near east these are prepared as something called MOOMBAR. It is an extensive process to clean the intestines. Then they are stuffed by hand with a mixture of spiced ground lamb, perhaps pine nuts, and rice. These are baked but can be fried – fried it too heavy for me. Stuckey’s? Just a fun place to stop in the old days. Perhaps thirty years ago my sister-in-law came home from a business trip to the Carolinas and with a smug face told me to eat what was in a greasy bag. I took one look and said, YUK! She was amazed that I knew what they are. I told her “pork rinds” and said that I would not partake. Again, fun article!
Thank you Thomas!
I’d never heard of Moombar…but now having looked it up, it seems like the Egyptian version of boudin! I’ll bet that it’s sold at gas stations over there as well.
There is a chain called Krispy Krunchy Chicken which is offered almost exclusively through convenience stores and gas stations. It’s gotten a bit of a following.
I think the Buc-ee’s would be a great place to get food, too.
Buc-ee’s definitely seems to be eating up (so to speak) the universe of food-supplying fueling stations. I read an article a while back about how they’re intent on expanding well beyond their current number of locations and into many other states.
I have been to a Buc-ee’s a couple of times. The fact that they had an entire wall (and a huge wall at that) of jerky was kind of awe-inspiring.
Anyone who’s lived in the Middle West will know Casey’s pizza – it’s one of my favorites.
So many good things mentioned here…
Chitlins: I have had them, didn’t particularly care for them. My grandmother fried them in a cast iron skillet, so that helped. I tried them before knowing what they were, thus I wasn’t biased upon trying them.
Stuckey’s: There is still one about an hour from me but I’ve never stopped. Not sure I’ve ever been in one, although pecans (pronounced “pa-cons” in these parts) are plentiful in this area.
Kolaches: Never had one but saw them at a Buc-ee’s in Ft. Worth last summer. I will be by a Buc-ee’s in a few weeks and anticipate a stop. They also sell barbecue made on site.
Pork Rinds: those are fine eating; it’s always a good time for pork rinds. What somebody said about the greasy aftertaste is true on the lower quality ones. The better ones melt like crunchy butter. They are great. I have a six pack of them in my snack drawer at work; some are kimchee flavored, others are spicy dill pickle.
Rats (in the last picture): I’m thinking muskrats, although I still wouldn’t be excited to try them. However, if nutria is a thing in Louisiana, ‘rats could be elsewhere. Never rule anything out.
Headers: I’ve seen the advice for using them on the backend of the website. Maybe there is merit to them but I’ll pass. It says I have a bigger issue with passive tense in my sentences.
Most everything you’ve mentioned would be enhanced when chased by an RC Cola.
Jeff, I thoroughly enjoyed this article.
Thank you Jason. That Stuckey’s store near you may be one of the handful of original ones left. If it has the blue roof, it probably is. I hear that there are about 3 left in the country. 3 more than HoJos, so they’re still hanging in there.
Yes, WordPress is always clobbering me for using the passive voice in my sentences. I have resisted “improving that”, particularly because every time I write the way it wants me to, the piece reads like one of those clickbait “Amazon Hates When Prime Members Do This (But Can’t Stop You)” stories. Nope.
And yes, to the RC Cola. Maybe if one is really going for broke, a Moon Pie too (this one lives on my shelf near the Stuckey’s Pecan Log Roll, but seems a bit more worn…fortunately it’s easier to replace).
Great article. 7-11 pizza is usually pretty good. On our last trip east across 40 we pulled into a Sinclair truck stop in Missouri probably close to midnight. We parked the trailer and walked into another country. While there was a closed chain pizza counter and some aged out Chester’s chicken, the rest of the place was Bombay west. Starving we got chicken for the wife with potato wedges that were so old they could be used as chock blocks. I went over to the Indian food counter and decided on trying something new. What could happen? Dubious untried gas station food where there was a language barrier and a different standard for clean on a road trip. I ended up with a vegetarian gloop loaded with peas and kind of spicy. I like spicy. It looked as old as the potato wedges. Got some Naan also, it had a different taste but was enjoyable. Gloop was outstanding, I even devoured the geriatric potato wedges. I was truly amazed that after a good night’s sleep the there was no gastric emergency. We continued our trip and the leftover spicy pea gloop eaten for lunch the next day produced no adverse effects.
Yes! Thanks for bringing this up! The topic of midwest truck stops that cater to the Punjabi/Sikh truck driver community is fascinating. I first encountered those truck stops in Missouri (?) several years ago, but haven’t actually eaten there. I would imagine that they’re generally pretty good in the way that any truck stop that features bad food wouldn’t get much patronage…so I’d guess that one can get pretty decent Indian food at an Indian truck stop. Your review confirms that.
Nice ~ a well written article and plenty of educational comments too =8-) .
As mentioned, here in California gas station food is mostly pre packaged crap, handy but not really ‘good food’ .
I’ve been looking at those roller things for decades and notice some places (7-11’s) have a schedule for taking the food out and cleaning, others are like the linked one and have antique food debris buildup, not overly tasty looking .
7-11 has changed quite a bit since their corporate overhaul some years back, they used to always have a crock pot full of “XLNT” brand tamales that I liked, long gone now .
The boudin sound great ~ I too love Cajun food when I can get it .
My Southern U.S.A. travels taught me the South has better roadside foods, period .
No one mentioned that the BBQ begins to be vinegar based as you travel up the Eastern seaboard, it’s nice but I prefer TEXAS BBQ .
-Nate
When you’re having a terrible day and think it just can’t get any worse. Oh it sure can in the form of gas station sushi. Like diet coke and mentos, some things just don’t go together.
Ha! I believe I’ve encountered gas station sushi a few times, but it falls just below the line I draw at Grocery Store Sushi. I’ve only crossed the Grocery Store Sushi line a few times.
I will give whoever created that bonus points for creating Edvard Munch Maki
:-0
I remember “Stucky’s”, in “Warfordsburg PA.”